TEHRAN (FNA)- The Palestinian Authority refused to take part in a meeting hosted by the White House on the situation in the Gaza Strip, with officials from Israel and Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, in attendance.

The Tuesday meeting was the first of its kind to be hosted by the White House. It was joined by representatives from Israel and 17 countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Qatar, Canada, and several European states, Shafaqna reported.

Gaza, which hosts roughly two million Palestinians, is facing a humanitarian crisis, driven by Israel’s 2006-present siege of the territory, and its incessant attacks and wholesale wars.

The United Nations has said the enclave could become “uninhabitable” by 2020. Tel Aviv, however, says it has to employ the blockade to pile up pressure on the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas, which runs and defends the enclave in the face of the regime’s aggression.

The White House meeting was, however, boycotted by the PA, which is outraged by US President Donald Trump’s move last December to recognize the occupied holy city of Jerusalem al-Quds as Israel’s “capital”.

Trump’s declaration prompted PA President Mahmoud Abbas to formally declare that Palestinians would no longer accept the US as a mediator to resolve the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict as Washington is “completely biased” towards Tel Aviv.

Ever since, Abbas has been turning to the European Union, the African Union, Russia, China, and the Arab League to join efforts aimed at resolving the conflict.

Although it has alienated the Palestinians, the US administration insists on intervening in the process.

Washington is devising a so-called Middle East “peace plan”, and US officials said the Tuesday conference was integral to “future negotiations,” which Washington should seek to be held based on the plan.

According to The Jerusalem Post, the plan is “designed to cement a burgeoning alliance between the Sunni Arab world” and Israel.

Led by Saudi Arabia, many of the Arab states have been increasingly reversing their traditional policy of representing themselves as Israel’s enemies and upholders of the Palestinian cause of ending Israeli occupation.

In response to Abbas’ position, the Trump administration said in January that it would withhold $65 million of a $125 million aid installment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

“We regret that the Palestinian Authority is not here with us today,” Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s special envoy for the so-called peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, said at the meeting, which was also attended by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Kurdish sources in Northeastern Syria disclosed once again on Monday that the US troops have conducted heliborne operations to rescue a number of entrapped ISIL commanders who had escaped to Northern Hasaka province after losing the war in Iraq.

TEHRAN (FNA)- United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the longstanding Israeli siege on Gaza Strip has led to deteriorated living conditions of approximately two million Palestinians in the blockaded coastal enclave.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a message felicitated Angela Merkel on her reelection as the Chancellor of Germany, voicing the hope that bilateral ties between Tehran and Berlin would expand based on mutual respect and common interests.

TEHRAN (FNA)- A US-Israeli plot to launch attacks against Damascus from several fronts in collaboration with the NATO, Israel and Jordan failed, sources revealed on Monday as the Syrian army carried out successful operations in Eastern Ghouta.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian foreign ministry said the French top diplomat, Jean-Yves Le Drian's adamant stance on Iran's missile and regional power after he was briefed about Tehran's policy during a recent visit to the Asian nation is a source of regret and display that talks with some Western statesmen might lead to nowhere.

TEHRAN (FNA)- More than 79,000 civilians have left terrorist-held regions in Eastern Ghouta via humanitarian corridors for safe zones controlled by the Syrian Army troops, the spokesman for the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria said on Monday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Rapporteur of the Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini rapped Washington for numerous violations of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and the world powers.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Commander of the Iranian Border Guards Brigadier General Qassem Rezayee said the country's border guard who was wounded in a 2017 cross-border attack in Southeastern Iran and was then taken by the terrorists to Pakistan is still alive.

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Turkish Army's new convoy of forces and equipment has entered Southern Idlib, field sources reported on Monday, adding that the Syrian Army has opened fire at regions near the positions of the Turkish troops in Southern Aleppo.